Bugger it I hate to make a post of this, but I can't relate to you guys. Or rather you can't relate to me.

I have finally begun my memoirs. But here is a very basic draft. Hopefully you will understand why I have felt so alien and quit this thing I love so often. Only to come back time and time again.

I came into the world in Melbourne Australia in 64. By 72 I had left a hugely dysfunctional family and was working or a crop dusting pilot in country Victoria. By 1973 is was a fisherman working out of Lakes Entrance. 1974 I was a hunter armed with a 303 shooting roos and pigs. 1975 saw me living as a farm hand in Victoria. Then I was sexually assaulted by 2 farm hands (unsuccessfully) and I hitched to Cape Tribulation in northern Queenslend. I lived for 4 months as a kind of cast away. When the rainny season was due and I was freaked out by sharks and crocodiles I crawled out of the rain forrest. Was arrested for looking feral, and eventually made it back to Melbourne to my dying mother.

I had no money so began fighting and joined martial arts clubs. I worked full time, fought and studied drumming. I also realised how little education I had and began to read copius amounts of books. I became a minister but was not a true believer. Studied too much philosophy and became dedicated to the Academy.

Went on to play with a few high profile artists. But at heart was that child looking out for croc's and sharks. I had no person to raise me and my sociual skills are terrible. I am who I am.

You've had some pretty amazing experiences! I look forward to reading your books.

Cheers mate. It is a worry for me. I can play drums fine. The other members of my family did ok, my brother is a successful producer with shows around the world. I got caught in the middle and had to raise and educate myself. That is fine, but Australia in the 70's was a rough place. i was unknown to the government. I was able to hitch hike from age 8 all over the east coast looking for work. By 18 I'd had 21 full time jobs.

Also, why have you left and returned to drumming? Is it because of your childhood and work experience?

I can relate to being transient based on my experiences. I lived out of a suitcase for over four years as a younger photojournalist and I think it contributed greatly to my bad attitude toward setting up more permanent life choices.

I would love to read more.

__________________
Philippe - Eat, Sleep and Drum.. .. it makes for a good weekend.

Wow. That's a great story. Sounds like something that should be made into a movie.

However, I was always told, it's what you do with all those experiences that determines who and what you are. Can't relate to us? We can't relate to you? That sounds like a I give up phrase. You're only two years older than I am and you sound like you've come to the end of the line. I seem to be rediscovering things I like about myself all the time and mentally I still feel like that kid in college who's about to take on the world. You can be however you want here (or anywhere for that matter), and if you didn't go through what you've already been through, do you think you'd relate any better? Everybody here seems to have one gripe or another about something, yet we're all dealing with what we've been dealt, and most of us are ok (right, people?).

If we apply the rule that "police officers only have police officer friends because they can't relate to the society they have to protect or apprehend", then does this mean you should only be befriending and relating transient hunter assaulted farmhand fishermen with dead or dying mothers?

Hey Wy, this sounds interesting, and also sad at the same time. Glad you seem to have made it though. We haven't yet seen the end of the matter, as I like to say (the similar German phrase of it that is).
I think family is an important and crucial thing in life, it's the basics of society, of education and behavior. It can be a beautiful thing, but it can also be devastating and bitter, a pool of bad and dark experience.
Also, it's always healthy and touching to see how much responsibility a parent has, or even every human being has towards the people surrounding him/her everyday, or maybe just for one moment. Small actions can have big influence on somebody for the rest of their lives.

And looking forward to your memoirs, and be sure not to write the end yet!

Why do you think that you are not like most of us?
I don'y want to tell my life story because it would be far to painful for me.
I'm sure that there are many people here that have had a rough time of it.

I don't think Wy has a chip on his shoulder. He's a product of his life just like we all are. My life was about 2/3 bad, but the 1/3 good (so far) has been great. I struggle some. Gets easier as you get older.
Wy reminds me of a friend that got pressed into the Viet Cong forces, swam the river into Thailand with 2- 7.62's in him then swam back, stole a load of small arms, sold them and brought his family to the US with the money. He was 15 when he got here. Youan. Interesting guy.
Steady on Wy. Nothing else to do for it. Do write the book. I did and was better for it. Trashed it rightfully, but good to remember the details and see it for what it was, as an adult. Makes you understand yourself better, for what that's worth. I never thought a lot. Like Pavlov's dog I guess. Sounds like you thought to much to me.
Sorry to get personal, but you put it out here. Struck a chord.

Why do you think that you are not like most of us?
I don'y want to tell my life story because it would be far to painful for me.
I'm sure that there are many people here that have had a rough time of it.

You have led an interesting life though.

What he said. You just don't know what people have seen. I cant even say what that reminded me of. Glad it wasnt me.

Hey mate, didn't know you were a Melbourne boy at heart. I've thrown the invite out before, but now you've definitely got to pack your bags and head "home" for a visit. Beers are cold and in abundance.....get your hide down south for a sip. We've "related" in the past, pretty sure we can do it again and if not........well we can all relate to a Crownie!!!

Seriously mate, if you're strung out get down here and we'll check out some music.....over a few, of course. :-)

Well last night on the way home from drumming I bought a bottle of Kiss Chasey wine to go with my burger and chips. I note this morning it was 14 %!

Never would have posted this otherwise.

Why did I think I was unlike many of you? I think because at heart I feel rough and ready and uncouth. Take someone like JeffW. He is always a gentleman, polite eloquent etc. Same goes for most here, Swiss, Pol etc etc. I feel so rough around the edges it isn't funny.

As for not knowing the experiences of others, I know a few. And I respect them. Do I understand them? Not really.

There is a great deal I did not mention last night. The reason I ran away and so on. My dad eventually spent time in prison and we only just reconciled after nearly 30 years of not seeing each other. Some jobs I had were funny, others hard. But all were for people hiring a child for very little cash. The terrified walk back from Bacchus Marsh to melboune in the dead of night after scrambling out of that assault.... I'd only got out because they were so drunk. I think I was 12 or 13 but it is hard to remember.

Living on the coast was wild but short lived. 4 months or so. I had a knife, fishing gear and 2 large magnifying glasses to start fires. What was amazing was when fishing it was basically one cast, one fish. This is before the area was transformed into a tourist resort. But as I said last night, I got scared. Every noise became a salt water crocodile. There was a type of large bird living in the rain forrest that made me flinch every time I heard it creeping around towards the end. Couldn't see the damned things!

But that period was ok for what it was. Things became more conventional once I returned to the city a couple of years later to nurse mum.

There are all sorts of things in a person's life. Mine was not special in any way, but it was unusual. In decades past in this country many people wandered far and wide. It's a big lonely place. I lived in the desert, in the bush, on the coast. I had my run ins with snakes and sharks but made it through. The worst kind of snakes and sharks are people though. At least that is what I found.

I don't think I have a chip on my shoulder. Quite the opposite in fact. I am not dark on life or people. I like to help people. But more and more I spend time alone as I get older.

I don't blame anyone for my life. I kind of like it. I like that I wondered at 18 what it was like to live in a family. Then was grateful I didn't when I saw how twisted they could be. The beauty for me is that I was at times scared or lonely, but that it was only myself. I did not inherit the prejudices of others or their beliefs. The whole minister thing came about because once I'd returned I was looking at the beliefs others had. It turned out I could memorise it and it was suggested I sit a test. But really it had nothing to do with my. Experiences and I never did work like that. But it remains a qualification.

I did realise how ignorant I was. I wished I had studied at school. But no matter. I would have become a drummer anyway. Getting to play in front of thousands of people after scrambling around in the bush is kind of cool. Becoming a professional martial artist was too. I have had some health problems and just recently I learned of a really major one that could kill me. But one can also get hit by a bus. So I am gonna write it all down. :)

The following is a true story, only the names have
been changed to protect the guilty -

Well I left my job in my home town
And headed for the smoke
Got a rock 'n' roll band and a fast right hand
Gonna get to the top
Nothings gonna stop us - no nothing.

So if you got the money
We got the sound
You put it up and we'll put it down
If you got the dollar
We got the song
Just wanna boogie woogie all night long,
Yeh boogie

I've got holes in my shoes
I've got holes in my teeth
I've got holes in my socks
I can't get no sleep
I'm trying to make a million -

And I've got patches on the patches
On my old blue jeans
Well they used to be blue
When they used to be new
When they used to be clean -

And I've got a mama whose a hummer
Whose keeping me alive
While I'm in the band doing drinking with the boys
She's working 9 to 5 (knows her place that woman)

Just you wait -
One of these days see me driving round town
In my rock 'n' Rolls Royce with the sun roof down
And my bottle of booze (no summer time blues)
Shouting out 'look at me'
In my rock 'n' roll voice

No it ain't no fun waiting round to be a millionaire
[repeat]
[repeat]

I know that it's evil
I know that it's gotta be
I know I ain't doing much
doing nothing means a lot to me
living on a shoestring
a fifty cent millionaire
open to charity
rock 'n' roll welfare
sitting in my Cadillac
listening to my radio
Suzy baby get on in
tell me where she wanna go
I'm living in a nightmare
she's looking like a wet dream
I got myself a Cadillac
but I can't afford the gasoline
I got holes in my shoes
and I'm way overdue
down payment blues

get myself a steady job
some responsibility
can't even feed my cat
on social security
hiding from the rent man
oh it make me wanna cry
sheriff knocking on my door
ain't it funny how the time flies
sitting on my sailing boat
sipping on my champagne
Suzy baby all at sea
say she wanna come again
feeling like a paper cup
floating down a storm drain
got myself a sailing boat
but I can't afford a drop of rain
I got holes in my shoes
and I'm way overdue
down payment blues

down payment blues
down payment blues
down payment blues

I got holes in my shoes
and I'm way overdue
I go the
down payment blues

There was a friend of mine on murder
And the judge's gavel fell
Jury found him guilty
Gave him sixteen years in hell
He said "I ain't spending my life here
I ain't living alone
Ain't breaking no rocks on the chain gang
I'm breakin' out and headin' home"

Gonna make a jailbreak
And I'm lookin' towards the sky
I'm gonna make a jailbreak
Oh, how I wish that I could fly

All in the name of liberty
All in the name of liberty
Got to be free

Jailbreak, let me out of here
Jailbreak, sixteen years ah
Jailbreak, had more than I can take
Jailbreak, yeah

He said he'd seen his lady being fooled with
By another man
She was down and he was up
Had a gun in his hand
Bullets started flying everywhere
And people started to scream
Big man lying on the ground
With a hole in his body
Where his life had been

But it was all in the name of liberty
All in the name of liberty
I got to be free

Jailbreak, jailbreak
I got to break out
Out of here

Heartbeats, they were racin'
Freedom, he was chasin'
Spotlights, sirens, rifles firing
But he made it out
With a bullet in his back

Bugger it I hate to make a post of this, but I can't relate to you guys. Or rather you can't relate to me.

I have finally begun my memoirs. But here is a very basic draft. Hopefully you will understand why I have felt so alien and quit this thing I love so often. Only to come back time and time again.

I came into the world in Melbourne Australia in 64. By 72 I had left a hugely dysfunctional family and was working or a crop dusting pilot in country Victoria. By 1973 is was a fisherman working out of Lakes Entrance. 1974 I was a hunter armed with a 303 shooting roos and pigs. 1975 saw me living as a farm hand in Victoria. Then I was sexually assaulted by 2 farm hands (unsuccessfully) and I hitched to Cape Tribulation in northern Queenslend. I lived for 4 months as a kind of cast away. When the rainny season was due and I was freaked out by sharks and crocodiles I crawled out of the rain forrest. Was arrested for looking feral, and eventually made it back to Melbourne to my dying mother.

I had no money so began fighting and joined martial arts clubs. I worked full time, fought and studied drumming. I also realised how little education I had and began to read copius amounts of books. I became a minister but was not a true believer. Studied too much philosophy and became dedicated to the Academy.

Went on to play with a few high profile artists. But at heart was that child looking out for croc's and sharks. I had no person to raise me and my sociual skills are terrible. I am who I am.

I think many good musicians are people who spent a lot of time by themselves and lack social graces. I never learned to not say what I was thinking or to not be brutally honest. This hinders one in life for real and on a forum. Some musicians cannot communicate at all. And what drove them to study so much was that they were socially inept in the first place and practice provided an excuse not to see people. We can't all be like Count Basie who played short piano solos so he could mingle and talk to people.

This thread was inspired by 2 things. A bottle of strong wine. And my realising just what a social and posting clod I am. It is kind of by way of an apology. The things I've been most successful at were fighting in martial arts and teaching how to fight. And playing drums. One was supposedly spiritual but in truth the spiritual stuff in martial arts is BS. It's all about defeating another person. I was a very good bouncer, for example. And the other, drumming practice, was about operating alone with a pad or a kit and working on improving.

I definitely am not whining or sorry about myself. I am sorry for the poor sods who come into contact with me or deal with me on a forum.

And what is worst is I have no idea how to correct it. I'm good in a teacher student relationship. But everything else is beyond my scope.

I once went to a psychiatrist to see if I was insane. He asked me to tell him my story. When I'd finished he left and came back with his colleagues. Then asked me to repeat it.

There are lots of people with interesting lives, hardships and so on. I don't claim mine as special but it was colourful. And as you can see it left a social vacuum. I am very good at being alone. The trouble is there are others around.

I'm sorry to hear this man. As to fixing your social problem - maybe professional help? Maybe someone on here will have some advice that will help you along, I hope so.

Well I tried. But I was told I was sane. The social thing is ingrained since 1972. Often where I worked I had to fade into the background. I was the smallest there and often copped a beating. I once got dropped off in the desert and told to find me way home with just a flask of water. I can be unseen whenever I like. Simply not be noticed. I made it an art. I once lived in a house with people who didn't see me for 2 months.

Strange that I became a musician and played on TV and in concert. At least I got good at it. Just last night a top Sydney musician\teacher told me I am the best funk drummer in the city. "You should be out there playing! " Funny as I do not specialise in funk. It felt good and was what inspired me to buy the wine to celebrate what seemed a personal little victory. It turned into this!

Well I tried. But I was told I was sane. The social thing is ingrained since 1972. Often where I worked I had to fade into the background. I was the smallest there and often copped a beating. I once got dropped off in the desert and told to find me way home with just a flask of water. I can be unseen whenever I like. Simply not be noticed. I made it an art. I once lived in a house with people who didn't see me for 2 months.

Strange that I became a musician and played on TV and in concert. At least I got good at it. Just last night a top Sydney musician\teacher told me I am the best funk drummer in the city. "You should be out there playing! " Funny as I do not specialise in funk. It felt good and was what inspired me to buy the wine to celebrate what seemed a personal little victory. It turned into this!

You have unbelievable stories man. I get the feeling that you don't like to drop names, but I'm interested, who have you played with? And who was the Sydney muso? Definately a personal victory.

The worst kind of snakes and sharks are people though. At least that is what I found.

And that's the core of the issue right there!

I could bore you with my life influences, from Liverpool dock road orphanage upbringing, to having paramedics defribulate me in front of my son, & everything inbetween, but non of that will make a tiny bit of difference. No amount of story telling or quack sessions will help, the truth is, you don't need help, you need positive personal experiences to steer your future. You've spent your latter life fighting against what your inner self tells you is reality, then being surprised when you revert to default mode.

I'm truly blessed in my life. Despite all my challenges, I've ended up with a close group of people who truly think of me before themselves. I've just lost two of them, my adopted mother & father,

You're used to defending yourself, & trust nobody else to do that for you. You've never had anyone acting selflessly in your best interests. Nor did I, until I started my life take 2.

You're not a freak or outcast. You care about others, otherwise you wouldn't post this thread, or teach, or bother to pass on your knowledge. Equally, you care about what others think of you too, otherwise you wouldn't have celebrated that compliment with a bottle of wine, or bothered to offer some explanation here. As I said in a recent post to you, I'd rather accept your direct manner than BS delivered with a smile.

Letting go of the past is impossible, don't even try to go there, It'll only leave you confused. At least you know who you are, and why you react in a certain way. You will always be most comfortable in your own company, but that doesn't mean you can't be comfortable in the company of others. You don't need the structure of teacher - pupil to engineer that.

You say things as you see them. Partially because you believe social graces get you nowhere, & partially because you believe you are beyond harm. You've been assaulted, beaten, abused, plus you have the skills to defend yourself from physical attack. You think you're pretty bomb proof because of these things, but you're not. I can sense that longing for vulnerability, to open your heart just a little, but the historical defence shield remains in place. It always will, but think in terms of lowering the draw bridge a little from time to time. You'll never be that social butterfly you described, but you just might achieve balance.

I hope something truly wonderful wanders into your life, & that you're open enough not to see it as yet another threat. At some stage, the opportunity will come to let someone get closer to you than feel comfortable with. That will be the defining point in the rest of your life, & your choices at that time will require far greater bravery than anything you've faced before.

Why did I think I was unlike many of you? I think because at heart I feel rough and ready and uncouth. Take someone like JeffW. He is always a gentleman, polite eloquent etc. Same goes for most here, Swiss, Pol etc etc.

Thanks Wy, but I've never been polite ... I'm a flake too. However, I've worked through most of my crap and that probably comes across to you as polite. It isn't, actually, it's just mellowness that comes from years of trying seeing others' points of view.

Agree re: socially dysfunctional musos. Some of the best musos I've played with were withdrawn, living in their own incomprehensible inner world. But put an instrument in their hands and they were sex on wheels ... much more fluent speakers of music than English.

I know why you keep flaming me ... you have the gift of drumming know-how that you'd like to share but I keep rejecting it. It's because I'm more of a knowledge junkie than a musician ... a knowledgeable music fan who plays drums. I have zero interest in being a hotshot.

So you're throwin' yer pearls before swine with me, lad. Better to pass on that good stuff to the young students with the passion, eh? As for me, I don't need hassles.

I just want to poodle around pointlessly for a while until I go back to cartooning ... a fun pasttime that doesn't involve dealing with the weird notions of other musicians in a band (like keyboardists who want want to improvise sloppily through everything and then get stroppy if you ask them to not mess with the arrangement) ... and no lugging either.

holy shit Andy. It is true in many ways what you say. I am conditioned to ward off others I suppose. But then at the same time I love drummers enough to trust even total stanger drummers with intimate details of my life and psychi. I hate to hurt drummers but my way is often so rude or abrupt I probably do. While being in my mind light and jovial people think I am angry.

All of this is important as I prepare to write it down. I may even ask my nephew( a film maker) to make a movie out of it. When I was younger and gigging a hell of a lot wit
H girls everywhere and fighting to support my mum's illness I was so cavalier. To the point where I am in a movie and don't know what it's called. Seriously. Everything seemed surreal after living alone in the bush as a pre teen. That is not unique in history, children being alone or working. But playing in a popular band getting exposure is. I found it hard to take seriously. It was me after all. And who am I? Nobody really.

I don't know if I can trust in anyone to make a relationship. I am fat as hell now after breaking my back in the 90's. Pol can tell you I have no plan on approaching any woman like this. I suppose I have issues. But at least in that I am not alone. And I think writing it all down may help.

Sorry to flame you Pol. Just don't answer questions specific to books you do not know and have never worked from. If you are a part timer with no mind to improving, keep that in mind when you are amongst professionals who do this everyday as part of their careers.

You know how fond of you I am. But you have often contradicted me in the past and you were my students. Not the other way around. Any drum shop in this country will hire me in a flash. You know this. I just quit the biggest name in drums in the Southern hemisphere. I kind of earned this Pol. And it was not easy.

Sorry Wy, I dont agree with the title of your thread. I frankly dont see why not.

We all play drums here , we all love music and we all have some pain in our lives that nothing in this world can really soothe. Some of us catch many more bad breaks than the next guy, but I think its presumptuous to think that others here dont hurt as much or haven't had to deal with stuff against heavy odds and still manage to cling on life with their fingernails.

You seemed to have had an incredible life but what stands out to me at the end of your story is the word "survivor".

At a basic level thats all we are trying to do, aren't we?

I think you said in one of your replies on some other thread " play the drums because you love it", and they way I see it - thats proof that life hasn't just doled out a pile of crap on us but also gifted us a wonderful blessing. Beyond just the basic animal survival instinct we have what a lot of others dont - a passion. Sure this passion feeds us and can also sometmes destroy and kill us ( ask Charlie Parker, Jaco Pastorious, Chet Baker.. ), but as they say, at worst" we are luckier to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".

You have made it this far, which is a tremendous life achievement in itself and enough proof to convince you that you are a tough guy who can hopefully beat anything. Thats awesome, man.

Wy, I sincerely hope you kill all your demons and fulfill your destiny of sharing your music, knowledge, warmth and friendship with friends and strangers as I know you have in the past.

I love drummers enough to trust even total stanger drummers with intimate details of my life and psychi..

And that's because you only open up to those you perceive cannot threaten you. The computer replaces the distance you automatically put in place when meeting someone person to person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wy yung

I don't know if I can trust in anyone to make a relationship. I am fat as hell now after breaking my back in the 90's. Pol can tell you I have no plan on approaching any woman like this..

Trust is the only issue here, you're frightened of it, and who wouldn't be given your formation. The fat bit's irrelevant, and I wasn't necessarily talking about a relationship with a female. The love of a dear friend is often way more powerful & wholesome than a relationship complicated by sex & the pressure to sustain lust.

Perhaps you need a personal moderator who checks every post of yours before it gets released! :)

I think your observation is right that many musicians were socially weak in the first place, and that made them even better in practicing alone, and strenghten their musical communication ability, like a deaf man who learns to "hear" with all his other senses, or a blind who actually hears obstacles around him.

Aydee I think you miss my point. It is not that I have suffered or feel sorry for myself. I don't. My point is that the vast majority here have a more refined way of dealing with other members. Or like those I mentioned, have more class basically. I see myself as deficient in this area and have laods of admiration for those others I admire.

Andy again you are wise beyond your years. My best friend is the man who runs the Brazilian drum coimpany that endorsers me. We have never actually met. And I will take the opportunity here to alude to something I said to Pol. I was devastated about posting on this forum and asked my friend what he thought. After running samba schools for years and working as a drummer on US television for 18 years he simply said this "Some opinions are worth more than others. You get paid for yours. Why are you hanging out with amateurs? These people have no comprehension of what it took to get to your level. Nor do they have the working experience only a person like you can offer."

Aydee I think you miss my point. It is not that I have suffered or feel sorry for myself. I don't. My point is that the vast majority here have a more refined way of dealing with other members. Or like those I mentioned, have more class basically. I see myself as deficient in this area and have laods of admiration for those others I admire.

Maybe I do, a little, but I dont think there much thats unrefined or poor communicated in what you have written on this forum so far. Sure there might have been the occasional bluntness or impatience, but thats understandable specially in a passionate teacher. If the good intent is clear enough then a rough n' ready style is easily excused.

Just look at the reactions you are getting on this thread. Doesnt look to me like anyone is holding it against you.

I dont know about you man, but the older I get the more I realize that different as we may appear to be, we are all more or less the same. We all bleed.

Andy again you are wise beyond your years. My best friend is the man who runs the Brazilian drum coimpany that endorsers me. We have never actually met. And I will take the opportunity here to alude to something I said to Pol. I was devastated about posting on this forum and asked my friend what he thought. After running samba schools for years and working as a drummer on US television for 18 years he simply said this "Some opinions are worth more than others. You get paid for yours. Why are you hanging out with amateurs? These people have no comprehension of what it took to get to your level. Nor do they have the working experience only a person like you can offer."

Well, I think I'm older than you, so that means I'm either very old, or very wise. I'm not sure I'm happy about being both, lol!

As for the comment from your pro friend, I think his view of the members here is quite condescending & simplistic. In essence, he's right, but I certainly don't subscribe to the "grovelling masses" attitude. That's just elitist BS, IMO. Besides that, there's a few "amateurs" here that carry that status by choice. There's a few ex pro's who no longer have drumming as their primary income, & there's some amateurs who have both skill & work ethic beyond many pro's. To throw such an eclectic mix into one pot is very shortsighted IMO.

Hey, I had a great example of pro vs. am just a few weeks ago. Multi act gig. A pro band on stage with pro touring drummer. He was good, they were good. My son's band came on stage & killed them! My son delivered a performance that was full of measured drive, passion, & the kinda dynamic you'd expect from someone as old & stained as me & you.

Your friend might be correct to a great degree, but that doesn't mean he's right.

Sorry to flame you Pol. Just don't answer questions specific to books you do not know and have never worked from. If you are a part timer with no mind to improving, keep that in mind when you are amongst professionals who do this everyday as part of their careers.

Thing is, Wy, no one else was helping out and I knew I could transcribe the patterns on a drum machine, which I felt would be helpful for the guy ... and it was. As a pro, you could have been more helpful than just telling me to "bugger off".

Quote:

Originally Posted by wy yung

You know how fond of you I am. But you have often contradicted me in the past and you were my students. Not the other way around. Any drum shop in this country will hire me in a flash. You know this. I just quit the biggest name in drums in the Southern hemisphere. I kind of earned this Pol. And it was not easy.

Ok, I had things to say apart from "yes oh guru". So shoot me (oh, I forgot, you did).

You told us that Frank Sinatra's story was a pivotal event in regard to the importance of vocals in music - very enlightening, as is often the case when you're not shooting people. However, in opera, the castrati and, later, prima donnas were celebrated way before Frank was born. Why??

There's an obvious psychological component to the popularity of vocals ... and I have a bunch of A levels in psychology. Is that worth nothing? A baby in the womb is exposed to the resonance of its mother's voice from the moment it develops functional ears, at about 16 weeks (proto ears from 3 weeks). Yet scat singing isn't as popular as musical storytelling, stories that resonate with our lives. That's another aspect again ...

If the discussion only covered music theory or history then, yes, you earned it. However, that particular topic was very broad with a sizeable extramusical component.

I have sat at the feet of the guru as he passed on his knowledge to me, and accepted that knowledge unquestioningly 99% of the time. Forgive me - a mere unworthy amateur - if I dare to have some thoughts of my own 1% of the time ...